27 comments:

Can you cite any studies that demonstrate any sort of correlation between information PreCheck collects and the risk of a person having terrorist intentions?

Everything I ever read about the de-funded Total Information Awareness program (later called Terrorist Information Awareness) said that no good correlations were ever found. That's not surprising. Since there are very, very few terrorists. Statistically, it would be extremely difficult to find any sort of correlation.

What information could PreCheck candidates possibly reveal about themselves that would demonstrate that they are less risk than the non-PreCheck passenger?

With all the talk about risk-based approaches, I'd like to see some evidence that there's actually some risk-based analysis going on.

Chris, it isn't an extortion racket. It's worse, but I'll get to that shortly. Apparently, if you are a gold elite flyer or up, the information they collect is trivial - name, gender, and birthdate. If you are a NEXUS or Global Entry member, they are just piggybacking on programs that make it easier to cross the border. The NEXUS card is worth having just by itself, and it involves some kind of background check, done for a real reason. They probably don't share the information with TSA, just the fact that you are a member.

The problem with this program is that it's an attempt to define a class of Übermenschen, in order to quiet a lobbying voice against TSA slovenliness, incompetence, and abuses by relieving us from some of those abuses. We get our own special lane with very few people in it. That is, government resources - owned and paid for by everyone - are devoted to us in vast disproportion to our numbers.

This program is an attempt to keep us quiet - to make us feel a sense of "partnership" with the TSA by giving us something others don't get - but should get.

Dear Anonymous TSA screener. People are stressed when they travel and I'm sure you get abuse you don't deserve. That being said you are aware that typing all in caps is screaming right? So thanks for being yet another TSA screener who yelled at me for no reason :)

Anonymous said..."Please Tell your Pre Check readers that the day they are not chosen to travel through Pre check (randomness in the system) NOT TO BE SO RUDE TO THE TSA OFFICER. They are just doing their job."

"Just doing my job," like "just following orders," is no excuse for breaking the law and violating the Constitution.

Please Tell your Pre Check readers that the day they are not chosen to travel through Pre check (randomness in the system) NOT TO BE SO RUDE TO THE TSA OFFICER. They are just doing their job.

Please tell John Pistole and his leadership team to hold TSA Officers accountable for consistent courtesy and respect for passengers. When a significant number of those Officers treat passengers like convicted felons, disobedient children, and/or enemies in the War they're waging, those passengers will inevitably return the rudeness and contempt they received from the Officers.

Please tell John Pistole and his leadership team that his agency and its Officers need to earn the respect and courtesy of passengers. Bullying, bellowing, "humbling," and "Do you want to fly today" may make passengers fear and hate the TSA. But it won't make passengers treat Officers with respect and courtesy.

Please tell John Pistole and his leadership team that the TSA can't have it both ways. If they encourage or tolerate their Officers "humbling" passengers into fearful submission, they can't expect passengers to show respect and courtesy to the Officers who are intent on bullying them in the name of "security."

Please tell John Pistole and his leadership team that even if they consider passengers as Enemies in their War who deserve all the contempt, arrogance, and rudeness TSA Officers too frequently show them, it would still make sense to insist that the Officers at least pretend to be courteous and respectful. Screening is much easier, and surely more effective, when passengers respect and trust the TSA and want to do everything they can to cooperate. And again, the respect and trust must be earned. Bullying, bellowing, "humbling," or "Do you want to fly today?" won't do that.

Please tell John Pistole and his leadership team that if they can't understand the obvious fact that earning the respect and trust of passengers is essential to the success of their mission, they don't deserve to lead a trillion-dollar government agency.

Blogger Bob, you plan to explain the process at DEN I witnessed recently, where those with paper boarding passes were required to show them to the TSO at the scanner, but those with e-boarding passes on their phones were told not to worry about it since they couldn't bring the phones through? more inconsistent and arbitrary security theatre which does not contribute to the anti-terrorist mission? 2nd try.

Chris Boyce said... [[That means there are 298 million of us who haven't bought into this extortion racket.]]

Well Chris, I guess that is one way of looking at it. But I have a question or two for you. Do you visit your local convenience store and purchase things? Dou do know that they charge a premium price for that convenience, right? Have you ever had a pizza delivered? Did you know that the price of the pizza includes the costs of delivery? You knew that as well, right? Are either of these “extortion rackets”?

People are more than willing to pay for the convenience’s in life, which includes PreCheck. There is nothing with that, if it makes one’s life a bit easier then to that individual it is worth the cost, just like the corner convenience store. Time to stop making mountains out of mole hills.

Well Done! even the UK has recognized you Officers for being the best! congrats, on being asked to help the UK Professionals out on all Security operations (way before the G4S screw up) and for reaching such a high mark. Well done! and Thank you

Ron, I believe you are missing the point about PreCheck when you give your pizza delivery analogy.

First, convenience stores and pizza places are private companies that can charge whatever prices they'd like for whatever services they'd like. If I don't like them, I am free to use another store or pizza place that provides a better value. There is no such choice with commercial air travel.

Secondly, PreCheck is more than certain passengers cutting to the front of the line for convenience and speed. The federal government is telling those customers, "We trust you more, so we will let you have a less invasive screening process. Because you have patronized certain private companies [the airlines] a certain amount the past year, or paid us to have a background check into your private lives, we believe there is less of a chance that your shoes or laptops are bombs."

Well Chris, I guess that is one way of looking at it. But I have a question or two for you. Do you visit your local convenience store and purchase things? Dou do know that they charge a premium price for that convenience, right? Have you ever had a pizza delivered? Did you know that the price of the pizza includes the costs of delivery? You knew that as well, right? Are either of these “extortion rackets”?

People are more than willing to pay for the convenience’s in life, which includes PreCheck. There is nothing with that, if it makes one’s life a bit easier then to that individual it is worth the cost, just like the corner convenience store. Time to stop making mountains out of mole hills.

I think that TSORon is drawing an incorrect parallel between the screening experience and commercial activity such as going to a convenience store or ordering pizza. I'll try to clarify.

When I want to purchase an item I can certainly choose to patronize the corner convenience store or a large mega-store. I well understand that there will be a pricing differential and I may or may not be willing to pay for convenience. But, there is no relation at all to that sort of a transaction and the experience with TSA screening. No one goes to the airport in order to be screened by TSA. They go in order to engage in commercial activity - purchasing transportation from an airline. The TSA experience is something that is inflicted upon passengers as they attempt to go about their business. TSA screening is not a commercial exchange between the agency and a passenger; it is a barrier which the passenger must pass through in order to conduct the activity the passenger desires to do.

A more apt analogy would be if a persons went to a store to make a purchase and a gang of thugs was outside the door demanding the customer "show some respect" and be roughed up before being allowed to enter. Were the gang to implement "PreCheck" where the customer could pay for the privilege of not being physically victimized we would all agree that they were running an extortion racket. For TSA to allow passengers to pay for the privilege of not having TSORon or his collegues not stick their hands down our pants is no less of an extortion racket.

loving the corrected analogies from the last 2 Anonymous'. much better than the misdirection and attempted deflection from TSORon. now will TSORon actually respond to acknoweldge that he made a poor analogy and try again to defend an indefensible position? probably not. just ignore it - that is the TSA Way.

Nice try there professor, you failed to mention one very important LIFE SAVING point, if only one terrorist gets their way,

Nothing else matters. END GAME."

Then why not drug all passengers so that they sleep through their entire flight? After all, nothing else matters, right?

BTW, you DO realize that you're much more likely to die in an automobile accident on the way to or from the airport than from a terrorist attack, don't you? You're also more likely to get struck by lightning than die in a terrorist attack. I'm not sure of the odds of getting struck by lightning while on the way to or from the airport, but my best-guess is that it's pretty close.

My point? You need to do an actual risk assesment, which basically boils down to "How likely is X event happens?" and "If X event happens, what is the cost?" This determines where you should put your limited resources. The problem is that A) TSA does their math incorrectly (I believe this was on techdirt.com, which I can verify if you'd like me to cite sources) and B) the TSA seems to think they have unlimited monetary resources. This makes it very unlikely we'll ever see actual risk-based security practices out of the TSA.

@ T-the-B at flyertalk- ----------------------------------- Nice try there professor, you failed to mention one very important LIFE SAVING point, if only one terrorist gets their way,

Nothing else matters. END GAME.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. I think many other things matter. Among them are the rule of law, not squandering money on ineffective measures and a respect for basic human dignity.

Were the TSA to decree tomorrow that all passengers were subject to a body cavity search would that be going too far? Recall that at least one terrorist has attempted to hide a bomb in his rectum. What if you had to submit your fingerprints or a DNA sample to stay off the no-fly list?

Saying that "nothing else matters" means that there is nothing more valuable than the promise (if not the reality) of absolute safety. How sad an existence one in so much fear must lead!

"I hate having to remove my shoes but a the end of the day safety is safety!"

This is a common sentiment among TSA apologists. For you (and the rest), at what point do you say enough? Strip searches? Cavity searches? For the critics, it was enough when they suspended our Constitutional rights.